Container seating abutment for railway cars



Aug. 21, 1934.

J. H. MATTERN ET AL coNAINER SEATING ABUTMENTS' FOR RAILWAY CARS 2 "Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct 6. 1932 Ff I.

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Aug- 21, 19.34. .J. H. MATTERN ET AL 1,970,915

CONTAINER SEATING ABUTMENTS RAILWAY GARS Filed 001'.. 6, 1932 y 2 Sheets-Sheet f2 ORNEYS.

FIG I Patented Aug. 21, 1934 mails 'rfA'rENrg CONTAINER SEATING ABUTMENT FOR RAILWAYCARS' Joel H. Mattern and Fred fH. Pearce, Altoona, Pa., assignors to The Pennsylvania Railroad Company, Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania Pa., a corporation of Application pewterl 6, 1932, serialNo. .636,432

' Y 1 claim. (c1. 1o5366 vThis invention relates to railway cars of the l type used for the transportation of` shipping containers, and more particularly to seating abutments placed at the ends of a car and adapted to 5 accommodate the corners Yoi: the end containers of the series;

Heretofore, where ilat cars have been used for the transportation of containers, it has been customary to employ a series of guides or abutments arranged in spaced relation atthe sides ofthe car platform to dene a row of seats for the containers. Such guides lor abutments usually extend to only a short distance above the car platform.

It being desirable to brace the end containers of the series against dislodgment incident to severe shocks, the principal object of our invention is to provide rigid abutments at the corners of the container car, such abutments extending upward' to nearly half the height of the containers and deiining seats for the accommodation of two corners of the end containers.

A further object of the invention is to provide in association with rigid container seating abutments of this character, safety appliances, in the form of hand holds mounted on the abutments, and hand rails connecting opposite abutments of a pair at the ends of the car.

Other more specic objects and advantages characteristic of our invention will become more fully apparent from the detailed description of one embodiment or example thereof which follows hereinafter having reference to the accompanying drawings.

O the drawings:

Fig. I represents a perspective View of a railway container car of my invention with containers mounted at the ends of the car.

Fig. II represents a partial end elevation of the car shown in Fig. I.

Fig. III represents a side elevation of one corner oi the car.

Fig. IV represents a plan View of the same; and,

Fig. V represents a perspective view of one of the end corner abutments.

With particular reference to Fig. I of the drawings, there is shown an ordinary railway flat car l adapted for the carrying of less-than-carloadlot containers A. At spaced intervals along the sides oi the car platform 2, abutments 3 extending only to a short distance above the car platform are provided. The abutments 3 define a series oi rectangular seats for the accommodation of a row of containers arranged side by side on the car.

At eachendof vthe car special containeriseating abutments 3a `are provided inlieu of the ordinary shorter-abutments 3 used for the seating 4of containers in the intermediateregions.` As

clearly shown in Figs. II, III and V, each end cor- ,ner abutment 3a comprises'an upstanding flat plate member 4 riveted to a sidesill 5 -of the car and an upstanding stiffening member disposed transversely of the car platform. The stiiiening member 6 in the present example of my invention isrin the form of an angle bar and includes a transverse leg 7Y and a'longitudinal leg 8. As clearly shown in Fig. IV, the transverse leg 7 of the stifening member 6 forms with the ilat plate member 4 a right angular seat adapted for the accommodation of a corner of a container A.

The longitudinal leg 8 of each stiiening member 6 is riveted to the flat plate 4. At its lower end each transverse stifening member is attached to the side sill 5 of the car by a foot flange 9. At ,Y

its upper end each transverse stifening member 6 is beveled, as indicated at 10, the beveled portion being inclined upwardly and outwardly. Likewise the at plate 4 of each container seating abutment 3d is beveled, as indicated at 11, the beveled portion being inclined upwardly and outwardly, The beveled portions 10, 11 of the stiffening member 6 and flat plate member 4, respectively, aiord surfaces for guiding the containers as they are lowered into position on the platform 2 of the container car 1. In an obvious manner, when a container is lowered onto the car but is not exactly square in its position with relation to the seat which it is to occupy, its corners may ments 3a, in which case the container will be guided in the proper direction so as to seat itself squarely within the right-angular pockets formed by the abutments 30., as clearly shown in Fig. IV. For additional stiffening purposes, each seating abutment 3a, is also provided with a gusset plate 12 of triangular formation which is riveted tothe ilat plate member 4 and to the side sill 5 of the car.

The end corner seating abutments 3a, in contrast to the intermediate abutments 3, extend upward, as shown in Fig. I, to nearly one-half the vertical height of the containers. Accordingly they serve to brace the containers disposed at the ends of the car l against dislodgment. While under ordinary conditions the relatively short intermediate abutments 3 are adequate to maintain the containers in position on the car, there may be instances where unusual shocks, ksuch as the shock from a severe buiing force, cause a constrike the beveled portions 1o, 11 of the abutf90 tainer at the end of the car to topple over or to jar loose from its seat. The special end corner seating abutments 3a, of this invention insure against any such dislodgment even when the car is placed under very severe shock.

The members of each pair of end corner seating abutments 3a at each end of the car are connected together by a hand rail 13 which takes the place oi' the usual hand rail provided as a safety appliance at the end of a flat car. 13 is especially convenient- Whenla man' stands on the end of the car platform 2 outside ofthe container space, as for the purpose of operating the hand brake wheel shown at 14. The hand rail 13 also serves to rigidly join together the end corner abutments 3a, and thus to prevent the iiat plate members from spreading outward.

At each corner of the car there is provided a side step 15 of customary form. Above-each side step 15 there is a hand hold 16, one end of which is attached to the side sill 5-of the car, and the "other end of which is attached rto the flat plate vlmember 4 of the container seating abutment 3a at that corner oVf-thecar. Two additional hand holds 17, 18 are mounted on the flat plate member 1 1.` of each containerseating abutment 3a in substantiallyvertical alignment with the side step y15. Accordingly, at each corner of the car the side step 15 together with the hand holds 16, 1'7, 18, form a ladder by which a man can ascend to the platform 2. Moreover, the ladder thus 'afforded at each end of the car may be used to The handrail advantage when it is necessary for a man to climb to the top of a container.

From the above description it will be apparent `that the special end corner seating abutments 3a of this invention serve a number of useful purposes. They rigidly brace the end containers against toppling over; they provide a side ladder, at a point where such a ladder is especially usefulg and they serve as anchorages for the ends tending upward above the car platform to substantially one-half. the height of the container,

stiiening members extending transversely of the car platform and forming with said at plates n right-angular seats for thecorners of a container, said flat plates and stiffeningmembers having beveled ends for guiding a container corner into said seat, and a hand rail extending transverselyof the car and joining together said end corner abutments. t

- JOEL H. MATTERN.

FRED H. PEARCE.

iis 

